by Alexander Nderitu
Vera Omwocha, an upcoming Kenyan writer has been unveiled as the winner of the Italian-sponsored Tito Livio Literary Award for a 'short story on a historical subject.' Ms Omwocha is a writer, editor and book reviewer.
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| Vera Omwocha (Photo: Courtesy) |
Announcing the winner on January 29, 2018, the Italian ambassador to Kenya, His Excellency Mauro Massoni, had this to say:
'Tito Livio Award follows a five-day Creative Writing Seminar “History & Stories” for young writers aged between 18 and 30 organized by the Italian Cultural Institute in collaboration with the literary magazine SugarPulp and the Chronicae Literary Festival.
Twenty-six writers participated in the seminar which was held at the Sarova Stanley Hotel in November 2017. Fourteen of these entered the competition and submitted their short stories.
Following the selection by the jury comprising Prof. Carlo A. Martigli, Prof. Giacomo Brunoro, Prof. Matteo Strukul, Prof. Paola Ranzato and Dr. Matteo Ogliari, it is my pleasure to congratulate Ms. Vera Omwocha on having been nominated as the winner. The Tito Livio Award offers a return air-ticket to Italy, board and lodging for four days and the participation in the 4th edition of the prestigious Chronicae Literary Festival in Padua, Italy, in 2018. An honour indeed for a young writer.'
Twenty-six writers participated in the seminar which was held at the Sarova Stanley Hotel in November 2017. Fourteen of these entered the competition and submitted their short stories.
Following the selection by the jury comprising Prof. Carlo A. Martigli, Prof. Giacomo Brunoro, Prof. Matteo Strukul, Prof. Paola Ranzato and Dr. Matteo Ogliari, it is my pleasure to congratulate Ms. Vera Omwocha on having been nominated as the winner. The Tito Livio Award offers a return air-ticket to Italy, board and lodging for four days and the participation in the 4th edition of the prestigious Chronicae Literary Festival in Padua, Italy, in 2018. An honour indeed for a young writer.'
The writing contest was dubbed 'Tito Livio Literary Contest' in honor of Roman historian Titus Livius (born in Padua) who died 2,000 years ago.
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| Italian historian Titus Livius |
Francesca Chiesa, the then Director Italian
Cultural Centre in Nairobi, opened the 5-day training exercise that preceded the contest by introducing
the facilitators: Angela Loi, Italian
Deputy Ambassador; Carlo Martigli, writer/journalist; Giacomo Brunoro, SugarCon-Sugarpulp
Convention and president of Chronicae International Festival of the Historical
Novel; and Alexander Nderitu, Kenyan writer, poet and playwright. Francesca emphasized
the importance of literature in chronicling historical events:
‘By writing
(about our cultures) we can preserve this beauty.’
But she was also quick to point out that some forms
of writing were more profitable than others:
‘If you are a poet, you don’t eat. If you write
historical fiction, you eat – and drink!’
Francesca had recently returned from an archaeological
mission to the Kenyan coast, where many Italians reside. Her particular area of
interest is underwater archaeology. ‘Many Kenyans don’t know the ancient
history of Kenya,’ she said, adding that the Roman Empire traded with Kenyan
Coastarians in ‘the first century after Christ’. She went on to say that Kenyan
history is much more than the liberation struggle and the way to bring it out
was through stories:
‘It is better to read a novel about history than read a
book (about it) in the library.’
Francesca added that herself having been born in
Padua, Italy, she was fascinated to learn that the Chronicae and SugarPulp,
historical and pop culture festivals, were based in her hometown. However,
prior to learning more about the SugarPulp fest (incorporating literature,
comic books and entertainment), the main thing she related to ‘pulp’ culture
was Quentin Tarantino (writer/director of the film Pulp Fiction).
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| From nearest to furthest on this row: Angela Loi, Carlo Martgli, Matteo Ogliari, Alex Nderitu and Gabriel Ndinda (Photo: Courtesy) |
After some brief remarks by Angela Loi, Carlo
Martigli talked about his background. ‘My passion since I was a boy was to
write,’ he said. Until recently, however, he was a banker – and still had the demeanour.
His first book sold only 2,000 copies but won a lot of awards. His most recent
effort had reached a million in sales. He concurred with Francesca that, unlike
poetry, the historical novel was doing well:
‘Everyone knows Dan Brown who writes historical
fiction, some of it based in Italy...If you write a novel that get published
and sells 10,000 copies you can earn a lot of euros at current prices.’
He gave a tip to the Titus Livos Award contestants:
‘Be original. When one presents workd to a
publisher, the publisher should say, ‘‘Wow! Great idea.’’ ’
With the confidence of a Supreme Court judge
delivering a ruling, he said that the five things one need to be successful in
writing were (1) Heart/Passion (2) Mind/Brain (3) Competence – writing about
something you know well (4) patience and (5) Luck.
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| Left to right: Matteo Ogliari, Carlo Martgli and Giacomo Brunoro (Photo: Courtesy) |
Giacomo Brunoro resembled American poet Allen
Ginsberg. All the male Italians were bearded but he was the only dark-haired
one. He said that SugarPulp, which includes a literary magazine in English and
Italian, was ‘born’ in 2008, inspired by pulp fiction and noir. Chronicae, a
festival dedicated to historical fiction, was ‘born’ in 2014. He said:
‘The mission of SugarPulp/Chronicae is simple but
revolutionary. The content is entertaining and literary, unlike school
material. There’s a lot of entertainment.’
He said that ‘pulp’ referenced several things one
of which was the phenomenon of publishing low-cost novels on cheap paper which
birthed the term ‘pulp literature/fiction’.
Like the pulp novels, SugarPulp is for ‘everyone.’
This was Matteo Ogliari’s second visit to Kenya,
having been here two years ago to conduct research on the electrification of
Nairobi city, as part of a thesis he was then working on:
‘I was investigating the cultural impact of
electricity, like how electricity was used during the colonial period.’
He said
that in the course of the workshop, he would give the attendees ‘a guided tour’
of the McMillan Library in order to teach them ‘how to use a historical
research source’. He used the word 'source' a lot. Even the title of
his session had it: ‘History, Memory, Representation: Sources For History In African
Contexts’.
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| Event poster, showing key trainers |
Related links:
http://sugarpulp.it/vera-omwocha/
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/
https://veraomwocha.com/
www.iicnairobi.esteri.it
Related video:
About the author of this article:
Website: http://www.alexandernderitu.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexandernderitu
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nderitubooks
Instagram: @alexander_nderitu
